The government spent a whopping €438,804 in order to promote Budget 2022 which was announced earlier this month, data tabled in Parliament revealed on Wednesday.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana shared the figures when responding to a Parliamentary Question from PN MP Karol Aquilina.

Caruana’s figures show that €206,067.20 was spent on “logistics”, €138,073.25 on “media buy and distribution”, and the remaining €94,663.96 was spent on “design, multimedia, and printing.”

The figures include government spending on consultation activities which were held across various localities in the weeks leading up to the Budget as well.

Taking to social media to react to the data, Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech said that “government propaganda” for the budget had cost €438,804 in taxpayer money.  

“This is over and above the hijacking of the public broadcaster, which is funded by taxpayer,” Grech noted – a reference to the continuous PN critique that the state broadcaster has been taken over by the government, becoming a propaganda outlet in and of itself.

“We believe that taxpayer money should be re-invested in initiatives for the common good, such as salary increases for educators and front-liners, and initiatives for our youth, and not on propaganda,” Grech said.

“This is money that could have, and should have, been spent on the common good. It is shameful that €438,804 is spent on Government propaganda,” he added.

The budget was announced by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana just over two weeks ago, on October 11.